City Employee Arrested for Identity Theft

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published January 16, 2006 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A multi agency task force has arrested a San Diego city employee for identity theft, using personal information she accessed from water department records. Mayor Jerry Sanders says he's taking steps

A multi agency task force has arrested a San Diego city employee for identity theft, using personal information she accessed from water department records. Mayor Jerry Sanders says he's taking steps to protect citizens in the future. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more from city hall.

So far only four victims of the identity theft have been identified, but city officials acknowledge city computers need a security overhaul. Mayor Sanders said the city auditor is taking immediate steps to strengthen internal controls on personal information, and he said the city will rethink its procedures.

Sanders: My first question when I heard about this was why in the world do you need a social security number to get water? We are going to assess why we ask for certain things, but we are also going to cut access to city employees until we figure out how we are going to use this information who should have access."

Become a KPBS sponsor

The city advises consumers to check their credit file. The accused has been a city employee for 16 years. The District Attorney says identity theft carries penalties of up to 10 years in state prison. At city hall, Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

twitter

Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.